


Alone Together

by Broken_Clover



Category: Samurai Spirits | Samurai Shodown (Video Games)
Genre: Friendship, Other, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28019334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: Ukyo Tachibana visits his old friend, one last time.
Kudos: 3





	Alone Together

**Author's Note:**

> I do not know much about Samsho, so I'm not 100% on Haohmaru's personality, so hopefully that turned out okay?
> 
> This could be read as platonic or romantic, I didn't write it with either specifically in mind.

Haohmaru was aware of the fact that he wasn’t the most complex or philosophical of individuals, but even he enjoyed taking some time to relax and reflect. In the times when the world wasn’t in danger (which seemed to be rarer and rarer nowadays) and when he wasn’t seeking out more duels, it was nice to find a place to relax, rest, and think about the state of things.

It seemed much more enjoyable to do so with a roof over his head, he found. He had taken a brief respite in a small house belonging to his old master, who had allowed him to stay for a few days before heading out to travel again. It had been left empty for quite a while, but he’d occupied himself by brushing up the cobwebs and dust until everything looked suitably clean and livable. 

He’d gotten used to the quiet, so much so that he nearly bowled over when the trees, out of nowhere, began to tremble.

After the brief stumble, Haohmaru slowly reached for his sheathed weapon. “Is someone there?”

There was a possibility it was just an animal skittering around in the brush, but he did not want to be careless. He’d spent several afternoons in the same spot he was currently in, enjoying the sun as he sat on the porch that circled the house, but so far he had only seen animals around. They hadn’t been that noisy before, though, but perhaps he could just write it off as a harmless oddity…?

A pale hand emerged from the brush to push it aside. Haohmaru kept his grip firm, staring intently. This wasn’t a place many people knew about, nor should anyone have known he was even there. Logically, it had to have been some hapless, lost traveler, but that thought wasn’t enough to make him release the death grip on his blade.

“Show yourself!”

The figure paused for a moment, before stumbling out into view. In the brief moment of panicked confusion, Haohmaru managed to half-draw his blade, but he slid it back into its sheath just as quickly.

Framed by strange blue hair, he spotted a familiar face. Ukyo was shabbier than usual, unkempt and disheveled in a way that Haohmaru could immediately tell wasn’t just from shambling through the woods. 

“Tachibana?” After an unexpected moment of hesitation, he hopped off of the side porch. “Is that really you?”

The spindly man paused to let out a ragged cough into his sleeve, which was certainly enough of an indicator. “Haohmaru,” he said, after taking a moment to compose himself, “so you really are here?”

“...How did you know that?”

“I ran into Caffeine’s son by chance, he told me.” He paused to cough again. “I only came for a brief visit. Just to see that you were here.”

“Gaira?” It had been a long time since they’d spoken, but he must have gotten that information from his master. Haohmaru couldn’t find it in him to care too much, however, especially as his attention was taken elsewhere. The more he looked at Ukyo, the more raggedy he became. He was not only unkempt, but his skin was paler and sicklier than normal somehow, and the sleeves of his robe were nearly soaked through in a rusty red. “Gods, Tachibana, you’ve made a mess of yourself. What a sight!”

He tried to grab the man by the arm and pull him towards the house. “Well, you certainly came a long way for a bath. Sensei has one out back, you can use-”

“No, no, I can’t take any time to dawdle.” Though he wasn’t strong enough to overpower the other man, Ukyo managed to slip his skinny wrist free. “I appreciate the sentiment, I truly do, but I can’t stay any longer.”

“What?” Haohmaru cocked an eyebrow. “But you’ve only just arrived! Why would you come all the way out here for something so brief? What’s got you in such a rush?”

Ukyo hesitated for a moment, as though trying to steel himself for whatever it was he had to say.

“I’m going to die soon, Haohmaru, and there’s nothing that can be done.”

Despite the man’s dismal tone, Haohmaru remained upbeat. “Ah! I feel like you’ve been saying that for years! Your hair is going to turn gray and you’ll say the same thing.”

“Haohmaru.” His tone grew stern, uncomfortably so. “Please. If I can only ever make you trust me once, it needs to be now. I mean this with no sense of levity. I am not long for this world. I am going to die.”

The man’s smile fell. “What? You can’t be…”

Ukyo’s expression was so firm it could have been carved from stone. He really _was_ serious.

Haohmaru wasn’t sure what to say. “How do you know…?”

“Merely living is nearly unbearable.” He replied. “I can no longer sleep through the night. The weight of my own spine is becoming too much to handle. Every part of me is burning. My lungs are turning to water. Truthfully, I don’t even know how I managed to live long enough to find you. I thought I was accustomed to living like this. I thought my resolve would hold. But this is- this-”

The samurai was so struck by the man’s words, that he couldn’t react at first when he suddenly doubled over. Ukyo began to cough again, but after a few ragged jerks, he lurched forward, splattering the ground between them with bloody vomit. Haohmaru managed to snap to attention and keep the man stable before he could lose his balance and fall over.

“Come here, come here. You aren’t going anywhere, sit down.” At least that brief spell made Ukyo too weak and disoriented to resist being guided back to the porch. Haohmaru grabbed a clean rag from the hanging laundry to wipe away the blood and spit running down his chin.

“No, no, don’t-” Ukyo still resisted, still tried to push away, even if it got him nowhere.

“Sit still, please, just-” His own tone surprised him, to the point that Ukyo managed to weasel out from underneath him. The two men stared at each other in silence, only finally interrupted by another bout of coughing and spit blood.

“Look at you.” Said Haohmaru, so softly he wasn’t even sure if he was heard. “Gods, look at you. You’re sick.”

“I have been, for a long time now.” The words were calm, but the voice was fragile.

“I know, I know, but…” He shook his head in disbelief. “Tachibana, I don’t know if I can-”

“Please.” The man’s voice was brittle, a moment away from cracking. “Don’t talk to me like that. Not now. Talk to me like you used to. Call me what you called me when we were younger.”

Haohmaru sighed, and relented. “...Ucchan.”

Ukyo, somehow, almost managed to smile. “Ahh...I didn’t realize how much I missed that.”

“I don’t know what to do. I know my way around a sword, but I can’t cut the disease out of you. I…” His shoulders sagged in defeat. “There’s nothing I can do.”

“I’m not asking you to do that. I simply…” The man trailed off, taking a shuddery breath that almost turned into another coughing fit. “I simply wanted to see you, one last time. Just to prove to myself that I wouldn’t die a lonely hermit.”

Haohmaru didn’t recognize that tone to his friend’s voice. When he tried to decipher his expression, Ukyo covered his face with a hand. His shoulders began to shake.

“What are you…”

“Ahahaha…” Ukyo laughed, in the saddest way possible. He was crying, for as much as he tried to hide it. Narrow lines of tears traced his hollow cheeks, and his voice was choked. “You’re all I have. You’re the only one who will notice I’m gone. Isn’t that just pathetic?”

“That isn’t true!” Haohmaru objected. “What of your lover?”

“I wasn’t the one for her. I...I never was. But still, I clung on. I always said I simply wanted to make her happy, even if I wasn’t her partner.” His crying was turning into full-on sobs. Under most circumstances, Haohmaru would have found the display pitiful, but the man’s voice made his chest ache with sympathy. “All the while, some part of me still hoped we could be together. I was too much of a coward to admit to that. I clung on as though I ever had any chance. How could any woman love a walking corpse?”

Ukyo was sick, and he knew that full well. It didn’t stop him from drawing the smaller man into his arms, rubbing his bony shoulders and letting him rest his head on his chest.

“Don’t- don’t, you shouldn’t.” The other man tried to protest, but he was too emaciated and frail to push away. “You’re going to-”

“Hush.”

He didn’t cry for very long, but it still felt like an eternity. Haohmaru wished he had something to say, some sort of condolence or apology that would mean anything real. But he couldn’t. The only thing he could think of was the comfort of being held. Even if it was worth little, it was more than doing nothing.

“I should have done something.”

“It isn’t your fault, Hao-kun, I don’t blame you for any of this.” Even though Ukyo was the one who was sick, the one who was _dying_ , he put a reassuring hand on his old friend’s shoulder. “There’s nothing you could have done. That’s what this does. The Consumption. It eats you alive before you even realize. It’s merely a cruelty of fate.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Haohmaru snapped. “Don’t talk like this was destined to happen! This was not some inevitable fate, it’s a disease in your blood! How can you be so calm? How can you not care about how unfair this is to you?!”

The question hung heavily in the air. Ukyo didn’t meet his eyes.

“Because I’ve come to terms with it. That’s all I can do.”

He couldn’t begin to understand what that was supposed to mean. But before he could even try, Ukyo managed to stand up, taking shaky steps towards the edge of the porch towards the woods.

“No, don’t go.” He managed to hold onto one slender wrist before it could slip free. “Ucchan, please. Where are you going?”

“To find somewhere to die.” His expression turned wistful, yet still so sad. “Hopefully someplace comfortable and warm.”

He couldn’t make it any further than the top of the stairs before doubling over to cough again. Haohmaru could see the blood staining his hands and seeping into his sleeves. The nearest town was nearly three kilometers, not much for him but a task that had to be agonizing for someone so weak. All he could imagine was an emaciated corpse lying by the side of the road, cold and alone with only the companionship of the foraging animals that came to feast on the remains.

“Ucchan, wait.”

Whether the man stayed where he was because he meant to, or if it was because he felt too uneasy to try taking more steps, it didn’t matter. Haohmaru approached him again, hoping that he could manage to say what he wanted to. 

“...This house is warm. I keep it clean. Would that be enough for you?”

Ukyo didn’t say anything, but he saw the way his eyes widened ever-so-slightly.

“I won’t be of much use. I don’t have the energy to clean or cook.”

“I wouldn’t ask that of you. I would never ask that of you.” He buried a single, small hand between both of his. “All I want is your company. For whatever time you have, let me be there.”

The other man’s mouth quirked into an odd smile. And Ukyo laughed, in a tone that was raspy and cracked yet still so undeniably his. “You’re still such a silly little boy.”

“A silly little boy who’s still stronger than you.” Without warning, he scooped the man off his feet. To his delight, that got him another bout of laughter.

“Hao-kun, haven’t you humiliated me enough?”

“Oh hush, you shouldn’t be walking, anyway.”

It didn’t take away the sadness and unease still clinging onto him, but he knew nothing would be able to. The best he could do was enjoy what time there was. He couldn’t just stew in his regrets. It wouldn’t be fair. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them.

“So, why don’t we start on that bath?”


End file.
